Rice expert available to comment on President Obama’s final State of the Union address

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David Ruth
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Amy McCaig
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Rice expert available to comment on President Obama’s final State of the Union address

HOUSTON – (Jan. 11, 2016) – Rice University political scientist Paul Brace is available to comment on President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address, which will be presented Tuesday night.

“As President Obama presents his last State of the Union address, he begins his transition from the nation’s institutional agenda setter from the ‘bully pulpit’ to a senior statesman observer that former presidents become,” Brace said. “At this late date in his two-term presidency, new objectives or ambitious agendas would be impractical.”

Instead, Brace predicts that the president will identify the critical issues that remain while focusing on his accomplishments during the past seven-plus years: the former to influence the terms of the next election, and the latter to influence his place in history.

“Forgoing more immediate small-ball objectives that would assuredly be blocked by the Republican Congress, it is expected that this State of the Union address will articulate the big picture and embody aspirational goals for the future,” Brace said.

Brace is the Clarence L. Carter Professor of Political Science at Rice. He has published widely, primarily in the areas of state politics and judicial decision-making. He is the author of “State Government and Economic Performance,” co-author of “Follow the Leader: Opinion Polls and the Modern Presidents” and co-editor of “Change and Continuity in American State and Local Government” and “The Presidency in American Politics.” His recent articles have appeared in Journal of Politics, American Journal of Political Science and Political Research Quarterly. The National Science Foundation funds his current research on strategic behavior in state supreme courts. Brace also serves on the Council of the Midwest Political Science Association.

Brace is available for commentary before and after the State of the Union address, which will be presented at 9 p.m. EST Jan. 12. Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio capable of transmitting broadcast-quality standard-definition and high-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7. To schedule an interview with Brace, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations representative at Rice, at amym@rice.edu or 713-348-6777.

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Paul Brace is the Clarence L. Carter Professor of Political Science in the School of Social Sciences at Rice.

Paul Brace bio: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pbrace.

Photo link: https://news2.rice.edu/files/2016/01/Paul-Brace-1i4pyra.jpg

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